Ivana Alawi gets not one, but four leading men in series

Ivana Alawi was supposed to do a teleserye titled Ang Lihim ni Ligaya in 2020, but due to the pandemic, she backed out.

Nearly two years after, she finally gets to star in the upcoming ABS-CBN series, A Family Affair, along with four leading men — Gerald Anderson, Sam Milby, Jake Ejercito and Jameson Blake.

Ivana plays the lead character Cherry Red, who will capture the hearts of the Estrella brothers, namely, Paco (Gerald), Dave (Sam), Seb (Jake) and Drew (Jameson).

She wanted to do the previous teleserye offer but had apprehensions because of COVID restrictions and safety. She explained in a virtual call, “But the timing of the last show that I was supposed to do (was not right), biglang dumating yung pandemic, yung COVID. I was keeping my family safe. But now that we have vaccines and very strict ang protocols ng ABS-CBN, especially with the tapings, I feel safe naman kaya gustong-gusto ko na gumawa ng teleserye.”

She was further asked during the digital media conference to describe her four hot co-actors and how it was working with them on set.

Jameson is “very baby boy,” Ivana said. “He is just like a baby. He’s very young and innocent.”

Jake is her buddy while filming in Masbate. She called him the “best friend-best friend” type. “He’s more of funny. Alam mo yung parang nagsasama kami parang puro kalokohan lang yung nangyayari. Puro biruan, ganyan. He is easy-going and easy to talk to. Tsaka hindi ako natatakot biruin. Kasi sa iba katulad, like Gerald, nahihiya akong biruin pa.”

Gerald is “very professional,” she said, “especially during taping, nag-i-internalize siya. When he becomes the character, ang galing talaga. So, parang ako na nahiya, parang ayoko magbiro kay Gerald because he’s really professional.”

Ivana shared she got intimidated with Sam at first. “Takot ako to work with him because he is a senior actor and he is really good. He is very professional and siya yung, ‘I’m English-speaking.’ Ganun.”

“Natatakot ako to do a scene with him. But during the first time we met, puro siya biro. He said he wants to make everybody comfortable on set. And everyone who is part of the teleserye, the entire cast, I didn’t feel na I was working. Everyone supported and helped each other,” she furthered.

The actress-vlogger also revealed that she had a crush on Sam before. “I watched his movies and series sa ABS-CBN. Kaya natatakot nga ako kasi siyempre ‘pag naging crush mo yung isang tao (it’s like that), then you get to work with him, and I got the impression that he is very intimidating, pero hindi pala. It was the opposite. He is a very, very nice person,” she said.

Ivana was excited to work with her co-stars, especially Sam and Gerald. She said, “Sobrang bait nila lalo na si Gerald kasi more on nakaka-eksena ko ngayon si Gerald recently. Sobrang na-to-touch ako sa sobrang pagiging maalaga niya. Kasi may scene na tumatakbo ako na parang nakapaa. Siya mismo yung nagwawalis. Sobrang bait.”

“Si Sam naman, kapag kunwari nahihirapan ako, kakapit na ako sa kanila. Hindi na ako maka-arte, tapos very supportive talaga sila,” she added.

Among the Estrella brothers, the character that Ivana picked as peg for a future boyfriend was Paco, played by Gerald.

She reasoned out, “Kasi parang mahal na mahal niya yung si Cherry Red. Mas gusto ko yung mahal na mahal ako kesa sa mahal ko siya. Kasi mabilis naman ako magmahal kaya ko naman siyang sabayan (laughs).”

She also finds Sam’s eyes and smile as the sexy parts of his body, as well as Gerald’s smile, Jake’s arms and Jameson’s dimples.

Meanwhile, direk Jerome Pobocan praised Ivana for being down-to-earth, noting how she’s different from her sexy image.

“As a person, I was surprised because Ivana is known for her sensual image sa mga social media posts niya. But when I met her, it’s just a screen persona. In real life, she’s simple. Hindi siya maarte. What you see is what you get and I love that about her,” he said.

“But not only that, she is also courteous and maasikaso sa mga tao. Makikita yun eh, yung pagtrato sa mga production assistants, sa utility, sa mga maliliit na tao sa set. Maayos siyang makitungo sa mga tao,” he commented.

In A Family Affair, “we shall see that we used her sensuality for her character,” added direk Jerome. “But her character, buong-buo si Cherry Red. Hindi siya nag-te-tease for the sake of teasing, sexy siya in and out. Within and (outside). Just like Ivana na my humility, which is very important.”

On how she feels now that her family members have become public personalities through her vlog, she stressed that family time is still important. “We don’t post everything. Pag nag va-vlog kami meron kaming time to vlog. Hindi kami yung bawat ginagawa namin vi-ni-video ko. There is still time for us, family time, us time. I protect them by, you know, nag-uusap-usap kami, like, ‘Ganito yung ano. Mag-iingat kayo,’” she explained.

According to Ivana, she and her family keep certain things off limits to social media. “We really like to keep (some things) private. Kahit ako, ‘pag may mga problema kami or kapag may personal issues ako, I always like to keep it and resolve it by myself. Hindi kami talaga yung ma-post. I don’t think kailangan nila ng protection ko kasi lahat naman sila malalaki na lalo na si mama. Nandiyan naman si mama nagbabantay,” she shared.

A Family Affair is also directed by Raymund Ocampo and will premiere soon on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, A2Z, TV5 and iWantTFC.